Waiting, waiting, waiting …

A month has gone by and we are in Coffs Harbour still. Neither Jamie nor myself have ever been much good at playing this waiting game and although we knew we would be here in Coffs marina for a couple of weeks it is now starting to wear thin.

Wet weather wedding

We had much to do the first few days - with the wedding of Kate and David up in Brisbane on the Saturday it was an opportunity to break out the flash gear which had been packed in a vacuum bag and taken aboard for just this occasion – hmmmn – we would look great if we were supposed to be wearing crinkled cotton by design. No iron on board (I hardly used the one we had on dry land let alone even think of one on the boat) so a quick detour into Derek and Debbie’s laundromat in Southport to borrow theirs had us looking very smart. There was, however, a small moment of terror when getting changed behind the hire car in the multistorey carpark we couldn’t find Jamie’s shoes – visions of all dressed up at the wedding and look down – jandals/thongs/flip flops – whatever you call them – not a good look – but we found them, phew.

The new Mr & Mrs

Planning a wedding at any time of year can be fraught with problems, planning an outdoor wedding brings the weather issue to the fore again and on Kate and David’s day it rained. But, as usual with celebrations like this, even rain cannot dampen the spirits and we stood on the Wedding Lawn, in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, alongside their friends and family, sharing the moment they exchanged their vows. It was a touching ceremony despite the dismal weather, and we had a superb time at the reception – in fact the food was to die for – absolutely the best food in a very long time. Thank you, Kate and David for inviting us to enjoy your special day.

We drove across the Clarence river – (no pesky sailboats held us up!!) travelling through the towns we had sailed to – Grafton, Brushgrove, Cowper, Ulmarra.

Crossing over the bridge this time rather than under it

Back on SOL we had a few last-minute jobs we needed to do before departure and the list seemed to grow as it got shorter – well as we crossed items off, I added more.

Jacklines – these are safety lines you tether yourself to when underway to ensure that you don’t fall off the boat. We had gotten good strong webbing online and needed them stitched with heavy thread on a commercial machine, so a trip to the canvas man in town sorted this.

Ditch bag – this strangely named bag holds the supplies that you take if you are forced to abandon ship, also known as a grab bag. We had a bag ready and just needed to fill it – in went torch, batteries, first aid kit, bottles of water, muesli bars, scroggin (nuts, fruit and chocolate mix), spectacles, sunscreen, etc. the passports, credit card, boat registration papers would be added later.

Food prep for Tasman crossing

Sails – we decided we probably wouldn’t need the screecher on our Tasman crossing so this has been taken down and the storm sail, smaller and tougher, has been hoisted instead. Back in Bundaberg we had the stitching on both the genoa and the stormy checked and reinforced in preparation and stormy had been in a cupboard since then.

Food – the freezer is full - we have prepared, cooked and vacpacked dinners for 9 nights – we won’t be going hungry!! We have made up bags of scroggin for energy giving snacks. Just got to get fresh fruit and veg, eggs, bread and milk.

The diesel tanks are full, will top up the water tanks last minute ….. SOL is ready, we are ready – why is the weather not cooperating???

We enlisted NZ weather guru, Bob McDavitt (MetBob), to give us a passage plan and to provide weather updates via the Delorme inreach (satellite tracker) during the trip. He has been emailing weather updates to us since the beginning of November, and none have been good. The expected pattern of prevailing winds at this time of the year is generally favourable for a Tasman crossing, however, this year, the damned easterlies continue so here we remain, waiting for that weather window. We can handle some unpleasant days, but incessant pounding headfirst into wind and waves endlessly takes you way out of the realm of “unpleasant”.

The time has not been wasted. Jamie managed to take a 5-day trip down to the Blue Mountains to see his family, it will be some months before we can get to see his parents so having this time was ideal – notwithstanding the twelve-hour, two train trip each way.

Jamie and Matthew overlooking the Dorrigo Rainforest

We spent a great day out touring the nearby countryside with Matthew, who is on a boat just a couple away from us, and drove through Bellingen, Dorrigo and outlying areas. We visited Dangar Falls, on the Bellinger River and walked through the rainforest skywalk listening to the abundant birdlife at Dorrigo Rainforest centre. I thought the most fascinating was the catbird – a fairly nondescript grey or green coloured bird that makes a sound truly like a screaming cat – hearing its incredible call was definitely recognisable and amazing. After a restaurant quality lunch at the Dorrigo Heritage Hotel we drove through the Dorrigo National Park to see the huge Tallowood trees there. Tallowood is a species of Eucalyptus found around Dorrigo, the wood apparently feels greasy when cut due to high tannin content and the leaves are a good source of koala food. The specimens we saw in the Norman Jolly Memorial Grove would have been up to 70m tall, dwarfing us as we stood insignificant beneath.

Amazing Tallowood trees at Norman Jolly Memorial Grove

We have walked miles, one day visiting the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens, these gardens are a real credit to all the people who man and maintain them. One day is not enough to see all the plants on display, you could seriously return week after week and still find another gem.

Botanical gardens Coffs Harbour

Unfortunately, this extended delay has meant that Philip Mercer, who travelled up from Adelaide to make the crossing with us has had to pull out. Lyn Nichols, from the Gold Coast (originally Whangarei, NZ) has gone back to wait out the next few days with family there. Fortunately for us, Bruce Allen, owner of Shellac, a Fusion Catamaran also here in the marina has stepped in to fill Philip's place. 

It’s not all bad, as is usual in a marina, you get to meet some great people and hear some even greater stories and the Coffs Marina is no different. So many people appear to have arrived in Coffs and never left (maybe it’s those goddamn easterly winds that don’t allow them to get away!!).

Next to us is Steve, who has travelled the world on his 33ft yacht “Tatura”, he has so many tales to tell of places he has been over the years – he has sailed to most of the places you hear of and many of us just dream of going (even through the Red Sea). He has been a huge help while here, having a contact to weld our cracked exhaust on the starboard engine and spending hours with Jamie trying to get the HF WeatherFax working so we can get weather patterns offshore.

Matthew, who is ‘boat-sitting’ a cat just two down from us, built his boat up in the Snowy Mountains and sailed it on Lake Eucumbene, tamed a kingfish (aptly he named it Elvis) that we fed with minced meat each morning – after a few days Elvis would take the meat from your hand. We have spent many enjoyable hours in his company, laughing at the stories he tells. He kindly took us away from the marina for the day in his car for a trip through the Dorrigo Hinterland.

The World Rally Championship held a special stage right here in Coffs Harbour which we went to with Valinda and Steve, who live on their 47ft yacht here in the marina. They have a small power equipment business up in Woolgoolga (Whoopi to the locals!!). Their aim is to eventually sell the business and sail away but in the meantime, business and boat maintenance take most of their time. The rally was not as noisy, dusty or even fumey as I had expected and current safety regulations kept the spectators well away from the cars – but we had fun.

Dangar Falls, Dorrigo, New South Wales

Not so straight forward driving to the Tallowood trees!! Luckily it's a jeep

Definately above average "Pub meals"

The Amazing Clarence ...

Thursday 5th October

Goodbye Gold Coast

The overnight sail started out well, we upped anchor in Paradise Point at 2pm and passing through the Gold Coast Seaway turned right. It was hot and sticky, the temperature over 29 degrees, so it was a real pleasure to hoist the main and with the wind about 12knots we tootled along nicely towards our destination – Yamba/Iluka, twin towns at the entrance of the Clarence River. However, about three hours later, the forecast wind had not eventuated so it was down with the sails, on with the engine. And that’s how it was for the next twelve hours – one engine, chugging away, pushing us south. Any opportunity and we hauled out the jib, the wind too often had it flapping mindlessly, but it does help to pass the time on a night sail – watching the sail, furling it in as the wind drops then pulling it out again!! My romantic anticipation of a clear cloudless night sail with moonlight showing us the way turned out to be erroneous, as shortly before midnight the clouds came over, the moon hid her face and a slight drizzle of rain settled in.

Another beautiful day dawns

Dawn, and fish on!! A nice bonito had run into our lure!! We googled and got different opinions as to its taste – so we cleaned it up, kept half for us and half for bait – we will judge for ourselves.

Dozens of dolphins greeted us outside Yamba/Iluka, playing around the boat for about 15 minutes, leaving us before we went through the rock walls and entered the mouth of the Clarence. Choosing the quieter looking side (Iluka) we dropped our anchor, breakfasted (the fresh bonito was good!!), then sank thankfully into bed for a few hours.

Rainstorm in Iluka

What a difference a day makes – flat calm when we anchored here this morning, almost windless when we went ashore this afternoon and had a walk, peaceful when going to test the fish and chip shop this evening – then BANG – the heavens opened. Lightning, thunder, rain and wind. It was like a tropical storm. Sudden and strong. The wind got up to 40knots, three boats around us dragged their anchors, we watched through the, at times, almost horizontal rain as people aboard rushed around in the howling wind to reset their anchors. It was scary to watch. During the worst, when we saw the other boats moving, we started our engines as well, but thank goodness our Super Sarca anchor held solid as a rock. That, plus the amount of chain we had laid out.

Sugar refinery, just south of Harwood, on the banks of the Clarence

The Clarence River is second to the Mighty Murray River in size, and flows 394 kilometres from its start in the Great Dividing Range down to the sea and in times of flooding the increased influx of water can make it temporarily equal in flow to some of the largest rivers in the world. Along the banks there is farmland – sugarcane and cattle. At Harwood the sugar mill, the oldest sugar refinery in Australia still in operation, stands proud on the riverbank, in previous times the cane would have been delivered by barge from the surrounding areas.

We had been told that the Harwood Bridge would be closing for some weeks, only opening at certain hours on certain days – huge works are happening as a new bridge to carry the Pacific Highway traffic is being built at Harwood. Harwood Bridge, a steel truss bridge, was opened in 1966, prior to this, vehicles were transported across the river on cable guided ferries, and is the longest steel truss bridge on the Pacific Highway. We contacted Craig, (the bridgeman) and booked to go through at the 6.45 am opening on Sunday morning.

From our anchorage opposite the sugar refinery, just downstream of the bridge we watched the seemingly endless stream of traffic – we would be stopping that stream in the morning!!

Another first –

We have gone under powerlines. Over cables in rivers used to pull vehicular ferries across. Now we have gone under our first bridge.

Approaching our first bridge, in the calm of the early morning

Street poster, Maclean

At Maclean we tied up to the public pontoon, walked across the road to the liquor store – no – we were not desperate for a drink … the key for the free showers attached to the pontoon for the visiting boaties was kept there!! However, we did spot a nice bottle of red that accompanied us back to SOL and we enjoyed with fish and chips after a lovely hot shower.

We spent a couple of days in Maclean – the town claims to be “The Scottish Town in Australia” due to the origins of the original settlers and the town being named after a Scot. There are shops selling Scottish influenced souvenirs – bagpipes, kilts, etc and of course whisky!! We walked around the town amazed at the more than 200 power poles which are painted with different tartans, visited the library and swam in the local pool before continuing our trip up towards Grafton.

Dolphins accompanied us up river – we were astonished to see dolphins inland but apparently they are commonly seen here. Next stop Ulmarra, a place we had driven through some years ago, and whilst having a meal at the pub had looked down at the river and thought how nice it would be to go up there by boat one day – we could tick that off the list now – it was our boat we could see tied to the pontoon beside the jacaranda tree from our table as we ate!!

Jacarandas and SOL on public pontoon in Ulmarra

Up to Grafton next, we decided not to attempt going under the overhead powerlines just out of Grafton – the sign said 17metres – our mast alone is 18.5 and then add the distance from waterline to base of mast – no way!! So we anchored, and travelled the km or so up to the Pound Street jetty, puttering rather slowly in our little dinghy with her 3hp motor, to make our visit to the laundromat. 

Jacaranda trees abound in this region, and from the last weekend in October to the first weekend in November each year is held the Grafton Annual Jacaranda Festival. We are a couple of weeks too early to join in the 10 days of festivities, watch the crowning of the Jacaranda Queen and the Jacaranda Float Parade but as these magnificent trees are all blossoming now not only did we walk under their canopy but we tread on their purple carpet as well.

On our way back down the river we spent a night on another public pontoon, this time at Cowper/Brushgrove. Cowper was the site of a horrendous road accident 26yrs ago – we walked to the memorial stone. On 20^th October 1989 a bus carrying 45 passengers travelling along the Pacific Highway was hit by a semi-trailer truck which had veered onto the wrong side of the road. The truck driver and 21 passengers all died. At the time it was the worst road accident in Australia’s history. What made it particularly poignant was that the 26^th anniversary was just days away.

Back under the Harwood Bridge once again feeling the power of stopping all the traffic on the Pacific Highway. Guess there were a few annoyed car and truck drivers this afternoon as we went through along with about ten other boats so traffic ceased for over half an hour.

Us going under Harwood Bridge, photo taken by Anna, on Osprey

Whilst waiting our time to pass under the bridge we tied up to yet another superb public pontoon and here we met a lovely couple from Melbourne, Wal and Anna Robinson, who have an 8metre cruiser named Osprey. Osprey is a great little craft – they pop her on the trailer and have travelled far and wide, sleeping aboard in caravan parks and putting her into the water whenever the conditions are right. They have spent up to 7 months living aboard last year. Just going where the fancy takes them. They were up to watch the bridge opening then going back to Yamba – we organised to meet with them in the next few days.

Back to our anchorage spot in Iluka – and funnily enough, another fierce storm hit that evening – what is it with this place??

Anna and Wal, on their boat, Osprey, leaving to go up the Clarence to Grafton

Met Wal and Anna in Yamba, we caught the ferry over and they met us in their car taking us on a great little tiki tour around the town. We walked out the breakwater and watched the waves crashing on the rock wall – no boats going in or out today!! Lunch the next day in the pub at Iluka with them then with our plans made to go south and theirs to go up the Clarence, we said a fond farewell.

Waves crashing in on the rock wall breakwater at the entrance to the Clarence River

On the morning of Thursday 19^th October, with dolphins again there to say goodbye as we left, we spent a slightly nerve-wracking half hour motoring through the 2metre swell then turned towards Coffs Harbour. With not much wind we battled our way along, not wanting to resort to motoring, then about 3pm the wind filled in and we had a good sail the last couple of hours. To my consternation though, we were achieving some of our best speeds so far, but as we were sailing along, and just as we were approaching the entrance to Coffs Harbour - Jamie is looking at the speed log calling out the “look, 14.5, 14.8, 15.9, look, look, 16.4, 17…….” Whilst I’m shouting “stop looking at the speed, look at where we are heading!!!!” - we flew through the breakwater into Coffs under full sail doing 18knots!! Phew!!

We dropped the sails and entered the marina which is where we will be staying until the best weather window presents for our passage to New Zealand.

Old homestead along the Clarence

One of the many beautiful trees in flower right now

A lovely avenue of trees in Grafton

Warning the height of the power lines we didn't go under!!